Judges to rule on Lockerbie appeal next week

The Libyan man convicted of murder in connection with the Lockerbie bombing will learn the outcome of his appeal on Thursday, March 14, Scottish officials announced today.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi’s lawyers have urged the judges overseeing the appeal to declare the original trial a miscarriage of justice.

During the appeal, the judges heard new evidence that a baggage storage area in Heathrow Airport was broken into just hours before Pan Am flight 103 took off from the same airport.

The jumbo jet exploded over Lockerbie in Scotland shortly afterwards, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.

The prosecution had based its initial case on evidence that a bomb was planted on board the plane in Malta, but the defence has argued that the Heathrow evidence means its client cannot be convicted "without a reasonable doubt".